OPINION: Kyle Whittingham Continues to Prove He Is a Fish Out of Water

Kyle Whittingham was supposed to be different. There was room this season for Michigan to have a worse record than the 9-3 mark they achieved a season ago, but at minimum the on field product would look better. It would look cleaner. Michigan, if nothing else, would have a strong identity and build itself into a potential championship contender in 2027.

With the schedule that Michigan was set to face this year, it would have been understandable if the Wolverines did not reach the nine-win mark they hit a season ago. Realistically, as long as Michigan was playing well, Bryce Underwood looked better than he did last year, and the team looked competent in all three phases of the game, the fans would have been fine.

What a difference eight games can make. Michigan’s 5-3 record can be described as nothing other than disappointing.

That’s true not just because of what Michigan has done on the field, but what has happened around them.

Oregon and Ohio State were supposed to be death marches as tough road games for a Michigan team who was unlikely to be able to punch in that weight class at this point.

Instead, Oregon has cratered this season, while the Buckeyes will be missing their starting quarterback for the rest of the regular season.

Indiana can’t score, Oklahoma was not nearly as good as they were projected to be, and Penn State has fallen apart this season as well.

The Big Ten has opened up to a point where if Michigan was able to put things together, they had a chance to play for a Big Ten Title.

Instead, the highlight of the schedule thus far, at least according to Whittingham, is a 13-6 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers in overtime.

Once that game ended, Whittingham began reaching for a moral victory.

“If that’s a number six team in the country, then we’re a pretty good football team even though we’re sitting at 4-3,” Whittingham said.

If you thought that was the worst thing that Whittingham would say within the last 30 days, you were wrong.

When he made his weekly appearance on his radio show, Whittingham said that Michigan’s 28-21 close call against Rutgers, was a pleasurable viewing experience.

"Yeah, I come in early Sunday and watch it all by myself.," Whittingham told Jon Jansen. "The entire game, offense, defense, special teams, back to back to back and it was a pleasurable game to watch on Sunday morning. So yeah, I give myself a couple of hours after that and then on to the next.”

The answer based on that comment is simple.

Kyle Whittingham does not understand the job he has.

That’s the simple answer to everything that he has said for multiple weeks.

Trying to sell a moral victory against Indiana. Stating that Michigan State is not the biggest rivalry during the week of the game, and finishing by saying a 7-point win against one of the worst teams in the Big Ten was a pleasurable experience.

The Difference

This is not to say that Whittingham should always be miserable. That would not be healthy. It’s also true that there are different expectation levels at Michigan than there are at Utah.

Perhaps winning against a bottom-feeder of the conference at Utah was considered acceptable. Pleasurable, even.

At Michigan? Beating Rutgers is supposed to be a given. Beating Rutgers by double digits is supposed to be a given. If you don’t believe me, Jim Harbaugh looked visibly annoyed in the midst of a 78-0 destruction of the Scarlet Knights in October of 2016 where realistically nothing went wrong for the Wolverines that night.

Perhaps that was over the top, but that’s closer to the expectation level than whatever Whittingham is trying to say.

Michigan was favored by double-digits to knock off Rutgers. Rutgers was playing a backup quarterback and completed four passes if you include the two-point conversion to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Michigan should have dominated Rutgers based on the above information. They didn’t, because the same problems they’ve had all season continue to plague them. In fact, Tommy Carr’s heroics are realistically the only thing that saved Whittingham from having to answer some more pointed questions about his team’s performance or lack thereof.

Fish Out of Water

Being the coach at Michigan is not for everybody. Sometimes, even if someone really wants the job, like Brady Hoke, they can fail. Sometimes, you learn quickly that certain things won’t work. That was one of the many reasons Rich Rodriguez did not work while he was at Michigan.

Sherrone Moore was a disaster for multiple reasons, but he was unqualified from the day he was hired. The hope was that he could grow into the coach the university hoped he could be.

Michigan head coach Kyle WhittingMichigan head coach Kyle Whittingham walks up the tunnel after 13-6 loss to Indiana in overt — Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham walks up the tunnel after 13-6 loss to Indiana in overtime at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

When that didn’t happen, the hope was that Whittingham’s track record and disciplined nature would keep the program closer to the Jim Harbaugh days than the Brady Hoke days.

11 months into his tenure, it looks a lot more like Whittingham is closer to Brady Hoke than he is Jim Harbaugh.

He looks and sounds like a coach who does not understand the job he has, and has not learned on the job about some of the expectations that come with the job he has.

Lose on Saturday to Michigan State? There may be no future for Whittingham to look forward to.

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